


no longer full throttle

by jaemarked



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Platonic Relationships, everyone is mark lee love bot, well they could be romantic up to your interpretation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25836040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaemarked/pseuds/jaemarked
Summary: When he woke up, he shuffled into the kitchen and hugged Yuta from behind, still sleepy. “Thanks for letting me take over your bed.”Yuta didn’t even look up from his cereal. “No problem, Markie.”
Relationships: Mark Lee (NCT) & Everyone, Mark Lee (NCT)/Everyone
Comments: 6
Kudos: 185
Collections: Mark Lee Birthday Bash 2020





	no longer full throttle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> to my prompter;
> 
> i'm sorry for this being so short, but i really hope you enjoy it! i had a lot of fun writing it and i was very happy to write mark receiving love from so many people. 
> 
> and of course, happy birthday to mark lee! <3

“Have you eaten yet?”

“You don’t have to cook for me,” Mark said automatically, but Donghyuck just waved his hand, walking into the kitchen. They were both on the tenth floor, and Mark had just gotten back from a full day of rehearsal for SuperM promotions, and now he needed to watch all the videos for the 100 challenge. 

It wasn’t long before Donghyuck came into the living room with a tray of rice, kimchi, fried fish, and salad. He set the tray on the coffee table and sat down on the couch, opposite Mark. He curled his legs up, and Mark watched him for a moment as he scrolled through his phone.

“What?” Donghyuck asked after a moment, raising an eyebrow.

Mark shook his head. “Nothing.” He picked up the chopsticks Donghyuck had given him and layered a piece of fish over the rice before stuffing it into his mouth. His stomach growled, and he hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he finally ate something. 

“Good?”

“Yeah,” Mark said, “thank you.”

Donghyuck shrugged. “It’s no big deal, I just heated up some leftovers.”

“Still…” Mark began, but he didn’t know how to articulate how grateful he was so he just continued eating. 

“How are rehearsals going?” Donghyuck asked, not looking up from his phone. Mark swallowed his mouthful of rice and sighed. “That bad?”

“It's cool, I just can’t get this one move in the dance break down,” Mark complained, stabbing at a piece of fish in frustration. “Everyone else has already gotten it, I’m the only one who hasn’t. I’m usually good at complicated footwork, but I keep messing up.”

“You’ll get it,” Donghyuck said simply, patting Mark’s shoulder before going back to his phone. He only said three words, but somehow they meant a lot. Donghyuck’s absolute faith in Mark.

His throat felt tight. “Yeah, thanks.”

And he went to get some water.

“Hyung, I’m gonna go to that store over there.”

Taeyong frowned. “We should stick together. Let’s go here first, then we’ll go to the store you want to go to.”

Mark wanted to protest, but he took one look at Taeyong’s dark circles and slumped posture and sighed. “Fine, but don’t take too long, okay? We only have an hour left.”

“Sure, sure,” Taeyong said, reaching over to ruffle Mark’s hair before he could duck away, then leading Mark into the store. It was a high end streetwear store, but none of it was really Mark’s style so he just followed Taeyong obediently as he looked through the racks.

Mark spotted an oversized white windbreaker with a gray hood, covered in doodles, and slipped away from Taeyong to examine it closer. “Hey, hyung, this looks like something you might like?”

Taeyong abandoned the jeans he was looking at in favor of bouncing over to the jacket, his eyes lighting up as he pulled it off the hook to examine it. “Whoa, I love it!” He pulled it on over his long sleeve shirt and skipped over to the mirror. “Hey, it looks pretty good!”

He turned to Mark and pouted. “Don’t you think so?”

“I think it looks great,” Mark said, “you should buy it.” 

“I think I will,” Taeyong replied happily. “Do you want one?”

“No thanks,” Mark said, shaking his head. “It’s not really my style.”

He followed Taeyong around, pointing out things he thought Taeyong might like. Soon enough he was carrying a belt, two shirts, a backpack, and a hat in his arms. Taeyong was holding two more pairs of pants and a hoodie, and finally he was done. Mark raised an eyebrow as the price skyrocketed, but Taeyong had no qualms, instantly swiping his credit card. 

“Yay, I got a lot of things.” Taeyong looked pleased as they stepped out of the store, walking across the plaza to the store Mark wanted to check out. “Oh, that looks cute!”

Mark turned around, but Taeyong was already gone. He wandered through the aisles, but found that the store wasn’t as interesting as he thought it would be. He had more fun in the other store even if he didn’t buy anything. Bored and running out of time, Mark looked for Taeyong and spotted him at the checkout, getting his things bagged. 

He jogged over just as Taeyong wandered to the door, meeting him at the exit. “Oh, hey, Mark! You didn’t buy anything?”

“Nah,” Mark replied, “I didn’t find anything I’d like.”

“Oh,” Taeyong said, peering into his bag and pulling out a black denim jacket, plain except for the breast pockets that had little bumblebees embroidered on it. “I got this for you, I thought you would like it.”

“I love it, hyung, thanks,” Mark said, and Taeyong beamed at him, folding the jacket up and putting it back in the bag just as Mark’s phone pinged with a text. “There’s a car for us just outside the Starbucks.”

“Awesome,” Taeyong said, then his smile turned mischievous. “Think we could grab drinks before we go?” 

“You just want your sweet potato snack,” Mark teased, but he followed Taeyong into the Starbucks where Taeyong bought him some kind of lemonade before they headed to the car and climbed into the back.

“Thanks for coming out with me,” Taeyong said, throwing his arm around Mark’s shoulders and squeezing before pulling away.

“You don’t have to thank me,” Mark replied awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t mind coming out with you.”

Taeyong made a pleased noise, but fell silent. A few minutes later, he was resting his head against Mark’s shoulder as they headed back to the dorms. Mark just let him, taking out his phone to watch some videos on YouTube, and spent the rest of the car ride in a comfortable silence.

(“You know, it’s kinda weird that Taeyong thinks I can’t go into stores on my own,” Mark said to Johnny later. “Like, he wouldn’t even let us split up.”

Johnny rolled his eyes. “He doesn’t think that, he just likes spending time with you and values your opinion.”

“Oh.”)

Mark tuned his guitar while Jaehyun and Doyoung practiced their harmonies. They were doing a cover of “She’s In The Rain” by The Rose; Mark suggested the song, the company suggested they record a cover.

He was on backup vocals, and he felt a little embarrassed when he couldn’t get the harmony down for the pre chorus. It seemed like Doyoung and Jaehyun were perfect from the get-go, while Mark was struggling to make it work. It didn’t help that his throat was a little sore, despite all the honey lemon water he was drinking. 

“Okay, are we ready?” Doyoung asked, and Mark nodded, though he was worried about messing up. He leaned over to switch on the camera then adjusted his mic while his guitar was balanced in his lap. He saw Doyoung and Jaehyun doing the same as he strummed the opening chords to the song. 

Despite them having been in the same group for four years, and have trained together for even longer, Mark was still consistently surprised by their talent. It was easy to forget his worries about messing up and just getting lost in the song, singing when he was supposed to while playing the guitar.

When they finished, Doyoung immediately leapt up from his stool and shut off the camera, spinning around with a wide smile that showed off his gums. “One take! Yes!”

“Good job,” Jaehyun said, coming over to ruffle Mark’s hair and pulling him in for a one armed hug. 

“Thanks, you too,” Mark replied, offering Jaehyun a wide grin. 

“Awesome,” Doyoung cheered, “you did awesome, Mark! Come on, let’s go show Johnny so he can help us edit it.”

“‘kay,” Mark replied, putting his guitar on the stand and following Doyoung to Johnny’s room. Donghyuck was on his bed, but Johnny was on his computer, and he turned around when they knocked. 

“Hey,” Johnny greeted, sliding his headphones around his neck. “You finished?”

“Yup.” Doyoung handed over the camera. Johnny popped out the SD card and inserted it into the reader on his computer, putting his headphones on as he watched it. Mark fidgeted nervously next to his chair, able to see the video but not here. He stared at himself, grateful that he didn’t look weird. He didn’t usually fret over his looks so much, but sometimes recording with Doyoung and Jaehyun were intimidating since they were so good looking.

“Wow, Mark, you look really handsome,” Donghyuck commented from behind them.

“Thanks,” Mark replied, cheeks turning pink. 

“Hey, Mark, you sound really good,” Johnny said, not taking his eyes off the screen. “Did you guys do this in one take?”

“Yup,” Doyoung said proudly. “We sound great, right?”

“You do,” Johnny agreed. 

“Can I sit here while you edit?” Mark asked when Doyoung left. Johnny nodded, and Mark stole Donghyuck’s chair, sitting next to Johnny and watching while he worked. It looked like a tedious process, but he didn’t know anything about video editing beyond trimming the videos he sent to the group chat. 

“You’re getting really good at singing, Markie,” Johnny said without taking his eyes off the screen.

“Thanks,” Mark replied, but he was secretly pleased.

“Hey, slow down.”

Mark paused when Yuta turned off the music. “What’s up?”

“Our performance isn’t for another week, you don’t have to push yourself so hard,” Yuta said. “You’re gonna burn out before we even get on stage.”

“I’m just nervous,” Mark replied, wiping his face with his shirt. “I’m performing the whole time. I mean… uh--”

Yuta laughed. “Mark, you don’t have to feel bad for being in all four performances.”

“I know, it’s just… I wish all of us could perform together the whole time,” Mark said with a sigh, wandering over to his water bottle for a drink. 

“I dunno,” Yuta mused, “that’s a lot of people to fit on stage.”

“We’ve done it before, we could totally do it again,” Mark insisted. 

“I’m sure we will soon,” Yuta assured him. “Now come on, let’s go home and have some ramen. I bet Jaehyun would want to join, we could watch a movie or something.”

“Isn’t it a bit early to call it a day?” Mark asked, hesitant to leave.

“Nah, it’s already dinner time. You need to eat or you’ll have no energy for tomorrow,” Yuta said matter-of-factly. He slung an arm around Mark’s shoulder despite the fact that they were both sweaty. Mark pushed at him halfheartedly, but eventually gave up and allowed Yuta to guide him out of the practice room. He didn’t let go all the way to the dorms, and after they were freshly showered, Jaehyun made them ramen and they curled up on Yuta’s bed to watch a movie together.

Mark fell asleep halfway through, and when he woke up he was tucked under the blankets with a pillow in his arms for him to hug. Yuta was nowhere to be seen, and he found Taeil still awake on his phone across the room.

“Where’d Yuta go?” Mark asked sleepily.

“He went to go sleep in your bed, he didn’t want to wake you,” Taeil replied. 

“Mkay,” Mark said, then rolled over and fell back asleep. 

When he woke up, he shuffled into the kitchen and hugged Yuta from behind, still sleepy. “Thanks for letting me take over your bed.” 

Yuta didn’t even look up from his cereal. “No problem, Markie.”

“Mark!”

That was his only warning before Jeno slammed into him from behind, nearly knocking him over. The two of them stumbled across the room but managed to stay upright, Jeno latching onto Mark’s waist and hooking his chin over his shoulder.

“Hey, Jeno,” Mark said fondly. 

“Hi, I missed you,” Jeno said, rubbing their cheeks together like he was a cat. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been good, pretty tired, though,” Mark replied, “I brought drinks with me, though.”

He held up a plastic bag full of boba and Jeno squeaked in excitement, lifting Mark fully off the ground in a hug before snatching the bag away. 

“Thank you!” Jeno tried to press a kiss to his cheek, but Mark ducked away at the last second. “You’re so mean, hyung.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mark huffed, but he smiled when Jeno ran over to Jaemin and Jisung, excitedly handing out the boba. “Ungrateful brat.”

“You sound like Doyoung,” Renjun said, sidling up to him. “Thanks for getting us drinks.”

“Oh, it was nothing,” Mark replied, “it was on the way. How’s the shoot going?”

“Pretty good,” Renjun said, taking Mark’s hand and pulling him over to the couch where Donghyuck and Chenle were playing games on their phones. Mark glanced at Chenle’s screen, watched him throw a grenade at his opponents, and immediately scooted away. “Are you coming back with us?”

Mark was planning to go to the studio after this and maybe work on some lyrics, but he took one look at Renjun’s hopeful expression and changed his mind. “Sure, I’ll come crash if you don’t mind.”

“Of course we don’t mind,” Renjun said, and Chenle crawled into Mark’s lap to use him as a chair while he gamed. “Though, honestly, I’m surprised you’re not going back to work.”

“I decided to slow down,” Mark replied. “There are things I want to learn to appreciate more.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! if you enjoyed, please consider leaving a comment or kudos!
> 
> <3


End file.
